Shifting Social Media Consumer Behavior and Its Impact on Marketers in 2021

Entering 2021, people are now spending more time on TikTok than they are in Facebook, while the average American is also now spending more time on their mobile device than they are watching TV.

That's according to the latest State of Mobile report from mobile app intelligence agency App Annie, which provides an overview of the key mobile app trends and shifts over the past year.

The data is based on App Annie's data tracking, which is not as reliable as official data posted by the companies themselves. But it is indicative enough to provide an overview of comparative performance in the market.

First off, as you might expect, the average hours spent per day on mobile devices increased significantly in 2020, across all measured regions.

That makes sense. Amid the COVID-19 lockdowns and mitigation efforts, people were seeking alternate forms of entertainment, and many looked to their mobile device to stay connected, informed and to spend some of that extra recreational time they found themselves with. 

But importantly, App Annie notes that time spent on mobile devices now actually surpasses time spent watching TV, on average.

"The average American watched 3.7 hours of live TV a day, whereas they spent 4.0 hours on their mobile device in H2 2020."

That, too, is not overly surprising, as trends have been leaning this way for some time. But in terms of marketing approach, it's worth noting that TV is no longer the primary source of entertainment, with mobile facilitating more engaged time and usage.

In terms of social media apps specifically, App Annie's data once again underlines the staggering growth of TikTok.

According to the report, people spent more time using TikTok than they did Facebook in 2020.

Facebook, the company, still dominates the overall usage lists, with Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp making up the remainder of the top five most-used apps, in terms of time spent. But TikTok's growth is undeniable.

As per the report:

"TikTok's average monthly time spent per user grew faster than nearly every other app analyzed, including 70% in the US and 80% in the UK - surpassing Facebook. TikTok is on track to hit 1.2 billion active users in 2021."

Given the market dominance of Facebook, TikTok's rise is particularly amazing to see. Facebook was eventually able to quell the growth of Snapchat (by replicating Stories), and has fended off various other competitors in the space. But TikTok has continued to go from strength to strength - despite bans, legal challenges, investigations, etc.

That meteoric growth is the key reason why both Facebook and Google (via YouTube) are working to replicate the app's core functionality as best they can, however they can, within their own apps.

App Annie's report also looks at the rise in streaming, with video usage also seeing a big jump in 2020.

The data shows that 40% more hours were streamed on mobile devices throughout the year, in comparison to 201. Which, again, makes sense, given the global lockdowns - but that increased consumption may lead to new habitual trends, and change the focus of ad dollars in the years ahead.

YouTube was the top video platform, with 6x higher time spent per user than it's nearest video rival, in Netflix.

Of course, that's not a direct comparison, given the breadth of YouTube's usage outside of just streaming video. But still, the figures underline the dominance of YouTube in the video space, and as the platform continues to expand its slate of on-demand movies and content, it will further strengthen its hold on audience attention in the space. 

App Annie also notes the rise in eCommerce, which could be a transformative shift for consumption habits.

As various analysts have noted, the pandemic has accelerated the growth of eCommerce by years, bringing forward what was expected to be a more gradual shift in consumption habits. That will have major implications for retailers, because now that people are more accustomed to buying online, many won't go back to their pre-COVID habits, even when they're able.

And that could be of particular benefit for Instagram and Pinterest, according to App Annie's data.

As you can see here, global downloads of Instagram and Pinterest worldwide "grew 50% and 20% YoY, respectively". Both have significant opportunity to tap into the eCommerce shift - which also represents new potential for marketers to connect with these growing, engaged, and purchase-ready audiences.

In terms of overall social app usage, Facebook still clearly dominates:

But again, TikTok's strength is significant, while Snapchat remains a key tool for connecting younger audiences.

Indeed, App Annie's data shows that:

"In the US and UK, Gen Z had the highest affinity for Snapchat and Twitch, respectively."

It may not be the cool new kid on the block anymore, and it may not have the overall usage numbers of Facebook's apps. But Snapchat remains a key connector for younger audiences, while Twitch has continued to grow with the steady rise of gaming.

There's a heap more data in the full App Annie report, including industry-specific app analysis and insight, providing a range of valuable and informative pointers for your 2021 strategy.

You can download the full App Annie State of Mobile 2021 report here.

Throughout the pandemic, digital connectivity has played an increasingly important role in how we stay connected, which, for many, has exacerbated their reliance on online groups, with Facebook groups, in particular, seeing a significant rise in engagement.

But how significant are Facebook groups to overall activity, and what role do they really play in our day-to-day interactions? To provide more context on this, Facebook recently worked with researchers from The Governance Lab at NYU to provide new insights into the importance of online communities.

The research was conducted via interviews with 50 leaders of Facebook Groups in 17 countries, along with 26 global experts in online community building. The researchers were also given access to internal Facebook insights, and ran a parallel YouGov survey of 15,000 Internet users in 15 countries.

That's a broad scope of responses - so what does the research show?

First off, the data suggests that online groups are now increasingly important to connection.

"In the survey, about a thousand respondents in each of 15 countries were asked whether the most important group they belonged to operated primarily online or offline, or in both those spaces. In 11 out of 15 countries, the largest proportion of respondents reported their most important group as primarily online, and in three of those countries that proportion was 50% or more of respondents."

That's a significant finding, while overall, 77% of respondents indicated that the most important group they're a part of now operates online. 

The findings underline the growing relevance of online groups, which enable people to stay connected at all times, and on a broad range of topics.

Digging deeper, the researchers were able to establish four key elements in the growth and resonance of online groups. 

1. Digital technology enables groups to form at unprecedented scale and speed

That's both a blessing and a curse - having the capacity to connect with far more like-minded and like-interested people can open your world to a range of new opportunities. But that has also lead to the facilitation of hate groups and dangerous movements, with people also able to connect with others who share certain ideologies. Facebook is working to address this element, but used well, the capacity to connect around shared interests is now greater than ever before.

2. Online groups enable marginalized people to build community

Another key benefit of being able to connect with like-minded people is that it enables isolated users to feel less alone, and to establish connections with those with similar experiences. This can lead to strong bonds, which increases the importance of those connections.

3. Online and offline spaces complement each other

The researchers also found common linkage between online communities and real-life connection, which can be another key benefit to establishing digital groupings. By first establishing friendships online, that lends itself to real world meet-ups, which can be key for mental health and community. 

4. The COVID-19 pandemic has put many online groups center stage

And of course, the pandemic has played a role in growing online connections, as people haven't been able to get out in real life and meet with friends and family as they normally would. That's increased reliance on Facebook groups for social engagement, which is an important role in community building.

The findings are not ground-breaking, in the sense that many of these trends are likely as you would expect. But they do further underline the importance of Facebook groups, and the power they can have in building relevant connections and communities. Which, for brands, can be an important consideration in how you use groups to build connection with your audience, or how you utilize groups within any outreach strategy. Brand usage is not the key focus of this report, but the findings have implications for anybody looking to use groups within their strategies.

Facebook groups are used by over 1.8 billion people every month, with more than half of all the people using Facebook now members of five or more groups. There are also 70 million people leading these groups as admins and moderators, and the report lays out key lessons and learnings for those looking to become community leaders, and how to provide more support for these users.

There's a heap of interesting insights for group admins and creators. You can download the full report here.

This year looks set to present a whole new way of looking at things, as we push through the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, and consider the future impacts on how we interact, engage, and importantly for marketers, how we shop and respond to brand messaging.

But what exactly are people now looking for, and what are they responding to in terms of online interaction and brand outreach?

To glean some insight into key, evolving shifts, Facebook recently commissioned Ipsos to survey 12,500 people, aged 18–64, across 14 global markets. They've translated those findings into new regional reports on emerging trends - you can download reports for Australia, Colombia, Argentina, Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria, The Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, the US, Vietnam, the UK, and India 

Facebook has also published a global overview of the key data points, which we've incorporated into the below infographic.

There are some good, valuable data points of note here, looking at eCommerce, AR, online groups, etc. 

Check out the graphic below.

With attention spans declining, and media consumption habits evolving, could 6-second video ads now be more effective than longer variants?

That's what Snapchat's contending, based on its latest research report. To glean more insight into how people's response behaviors are shifting, Snap commissioned MAGNA Global to conduct a study of over 7,700 users, on both desktop and mobile devices, in order to get an idea of their reactions to varying video ad types.

The data highlights some interesting points of note - first off, Snapchat says that, regardless of length, full-screen vertical ads on Snapchat drove more than 2x the lift in awareness than other platforms tested. 

That points to the immersion and engagement of Snapchat's platform, which drives increased engagement with the content displayed, even promotions. Of course, that's still relative to ad quality to some degree, but because ads are only 6-seconds long, that lessens the intrusion, and further aligns with user behavior.

Snapchat also notes that its 6-second ads were more persuasive than 15-second slots across all age groups within the test pool.

However, the results here were not universal across all campaign types. Snapchat says that for brand launches, 15-second ads worked better. 

As per Snap:

"We found that of the ads tested, the ads that marketed a new product saw longer lengths provided greater efficacy on Snapchat. Therefore, new product launches should be a time to consider Extended Play Commercials in your media mix."

So when you're looking to communicate more detail, like in your initial launch phase, you'll likely want to consider longer explainers in your approach.

And this is also interesting - Snapchat additionally found that both custom ads created for Snapchat, and ads which were crafted from longer campaigns, performed similarly on the platform.

So you can cut down your longer video campaigns and re-shape them for Snap's audience without seeing a significant downturn in performance. Again, the specifics of your creative do matter, but it's worth noting that Snapchat added a Vertical Video Conversion tool in Snap Publisher last April, which will enable advertisers with horizontally-aligned assets to easily convert them into vertical format. 

Could be worth keeping in mind for your efforts.

The results here reiterate similar data to what Snapchat published back in December, which also showed that shorter video ads are now on par with longer video promotions, in terms of effectiveness. 

That makes sense - as users become more accustomed to short-form content overall, through the popularity of Snaps, Stories, and now TikTok clips, that means that video messaging is also now increasingly effective in condensed form.

But worth specific note in this study is the impact on all age groups, not just younger audiences. That could be worth noting in your video marketing approach.

You can read Snapchat's full video ad effectiveness report here.

Video is the best performing content type on all social platforms, drawing higher levels of engagement, response, shares and more. 

If you're not considering how you can add video into your digital marketing approach, you're likely not maximizing your potential, and the same goes for LinkedIn, which is traditionally more B2B focused, which could lead many to assume that video isn't as big a deal to these audiences.

According to LinkedIn, its users are 20x more likely to share a video on the platform than any other type of post, while response rates for its video ad products have been rising steadily over time. LinkedIn's overall ad business is also now reaching record-high levels of demand as brands increasingly look to tap into the platform to reach the key decision-makers.

Given this, it's worth considering video content on LinkedIn if you're looking to maximize your campaigns. 

And today, LinkedIn has shared some valuable new insights to help boost your LinkedIn video performance.

In conjunction with Digivizer, LinkedIn recently analyzed more than 3500 ads, using both automated and human review processes to identify the key elements of optimal video ad performance. Based on this, LinkedIn has come up with four key tips for your video campaigns.

You can read LinkedIn's full "Fundamental Strategies of Video Ads on LinkedIn" guide here, or check out the infographic summary below - while LinkedIn has also published a new video series to provide more video tips.

TikTok has published a new rising trends report, which highlights a range of key topics that saw significant growth in interest on the platform throughout 2020.

TikTok's 'What's Next' overview puts a spotlight on the most consumed and fastest rising content categories on the platform over the past 12 months. 

As explained by TikTok:

"We've been looking through nearly a year's worth of platform performance to help marketers understand which content categories have grown the most significantly, and which remained the most popular ones on TikTok over the past 11 months. These categories are not driven by a single trending hashtag, but rather by a slow, steady shift in consumer interests and behaviors."

The report highlights the growth of each topic over time, and includes a brief explanation of the key impetus behind the trend. 

That can be particularly helpful context for those considering TikTok for marketing, and where their brand might fit.

As you can see here, the listing also includes associated hashtags for each trend, and detail on exactly what types of content users are engaging with.

What's more, TikTok has actually put together separate reports for 19 individual regions, providing insight into what's happening in your specific market of focus.

TikTok has also provided a global listing of trending topics to provide more insight into key trends.

There aren't a heap of topics highlighted in each regional report, but the insight here could prove highly valuable, especially if the notes relate to your brand niche.

As such, it's definitely worth checking them out - you can access all of TikTok's 'What's Next' reports here. 

If you want to maximize your usage of any platform, you need to have an understanding of why people use it, what they're looking to discuss there, and how you can tap into those trends.

To help with this, Twitter has published a new, 33-page trends report, which highlights a range of rising topics based on overall tweet engagement over the past two years.

As explained by Twitter:

"People come to Twitter to talk about the things that matter to them. Entertainment, news, sports, fashion - it’s all here. And by analyzing these honest conversations, we can get a fresh understanding of the evolving cultural trends and attitudes shaping our future."

So Twitter's taking a broader view, in looking at the platform's cultural impact - but from a marketing perspective, it's more about what people are coming to Twitter for, specifically, and how that relates to discussions in the app.

Within the report, for which Twitter analyzed tweets posted by US users between December 2018 through to November 2020, Twitter has pinpointed six key areas of rising focus.

This listing does seem to reflect broader conversational trends off the platform as well, which makes sense, but it is interesting to note the specifics of each discussion via tweet.

For each trend, Twitter highlights several topics of focus, with an overview of each, including mention trends over time:

Twitter also includes a listing of related hashtags for each:

The topics highlighted are, as noted, largely reflective of broader discussion trends, but the specific insights here are valuable, particularly around elements like digital connectivity:

Many of these trends, exacerbated by the pandemic, will hold after the vaccine roll-out, changing consumption behaviors - which is also likely true for the eCommerce shift.

That's especially important to note in a Twitter-specific sense because it speaks to what people are growing to expect from brands on the platform, which could inform your strategic approach.

There's a heap of insight here, with each focus topic of varying relevance, dependent on your niche.

You can download the full 'The Conversation: Twitter Trends' 2021 report here (via e-mail sign-up).

Definitely worth a look.